For a long time neither spoke. Outside thunder rumbled. The storm blew in over the sea. The moonlight began to flicker as clouds mottled the sky. “We haven’t much time Johnny. Outside those doors…” she pointed to the front. For the first time Johnny noticed the heavy double doors – about half a football field away – were slightly open. He’d spent nearly an hour beating at them earlier in the evening to no avail, and now, “… a woman is about to be assaulted. She will fight valiantly, but will miss an assassin lurking in the shadow of the steps. He will put a bullet in her spine. She will be caught and carried off to a fate worse than death.”

Johnny’s eyes flicked towards the door. There was a noticeable hesitation but he stayed ready to swing. Part of him was calculating the time it would take to run the distance to freedom, and if it tried to stop him, how hard he’d have to hit this thing to get it out of his way.

Another part still saw his sister.

“What’s that to me?” Johnny growled. “And why do you look like that?”

“The same Darkness that hunts you hunts the woman outside. The bokar that cursed you had a terrible fate in store for you Johnny. And the Thing it summoned to take you has been waiting in the streets for you all these years.”